Michael Joye left the tobacco fields of Lakeview, S.C., heading for Fort Gordon. When he reached city limits, Augusta hit him hard.

"I came across the border in 1977. I was 18 years old - as green as a gourd. I said, 'This is going to be my home when I'm finished what I'm doing,'" Mr. Joye said from his welder repair workshop on Old Savannah Road.

Like many military retirees who leave Fort Gordon, Mr. Joye stayed in Augusta to start a second career as a business owner.

Fort Gordon officials estimate about 12,000 military retirees live in the Augusta area. Many of them choose to pursue an entrepreneurial path, said Heather Woods, a business consultant at the University of Georgia Small Business Development Center in Augusta.

"A lot of people, when they are leaving the military, do stay in the area because of the benefits of the military support system, and Augusta, of course, is a good place to live," she said.

As relatively young retirees, these former soldiers also have strong health benefits and a regular pension check - ingredients that help foster a small business.

Ms. Woods counsels more than 100 military retirees a year to help them join the ranks of the small-business owner.

'People are people'

After retiring in 1995, Mr. Joye and his wife, Denise, decided to remain in Augusta and buy B&W Industrial Services, a welder and generator repair shop.

"Augusta is big enough to have local commerce, but small enough where people are people," said Mr. Joye, 47.

He didn't want to go back home, where there was nothing but "a tobacco field and one plant that paid minimum wage."

"Before we got the business, I hardly knew anything about a welder," Mr. Joye acknowledged, but he grew up around farm machinery and had a 19-year Army career in electronics repair. His customer base now nears 300.

Where the military provided him with a way to "make a living, get out of the area and better myself," his welding business has provided another steady paycheck.

The military benefits, particularly in health care, help minimize the cost of being self-employed. When an insurance company called saying it could offer better health insurance, he just smiled and said, "Bet you caaan't."

Mr. Joye continues to broaden his business repertoire with All American Karaoke. Since 2003, when he was bit by the singing bug, Mr. Joye has been competing in karaoke competitions and playing host to karaoke events at local bars and the VFW Post 649 on Windsor Spring Road.

His signature song is Where the Stars and Stripes and the Eagle Fly, by Aaron Tippin.

"Every once in a while, I do miss the military. I loved the camaraderie; I loved the soldiers," Mr. Joye said.

Humble beginnings

Rod Tyson retired from the Army in February 2005 with the rank of major.

As an officer, he was accustomed to stand-up-and-salute respect from subordinates. Now that he's operating three Subway franchise restaurants in the Augusta area with his wife, Angie, "the days of saluting and people standing up and jumping are over."

To help ex-soldiers adjust for civilian life, Fort Gordon requires some prep sessions with the Army Career and Alumni Program.

Participants are given job skills that can include starting a small business, said Eddie Ferguson, the transition services manager.

Exiting soldiers are urged to dress in business attire rather than uniform to get used to life without ranks.

It might have taken some getting used to, but now Mr. Tyson is reveling in the success of his second career as an entrepreneur.

Mr. Tyson enlisted in the Army in 1983 and, while rising through the ranks, earned a master's degree in business administration.

When it came time to launch a business after his retirement, he chose to be franchisee for Subway, whose sandwiches he first sampled in Savannah in 1988.

Although some people might not like the way Subway enforces company control, such as when to have a sale on what sandwich, Mr. Tyson said it is not unlike following orders in the military.

Ms. Woods said franchising is a good choice for entrepreneurial military retirees.

"It offers you a way into a business that will provide a lot of support and help," she said.

The Tysons opened their first Subway on Gordon Highway in January, just before Mr. Tyson's retirement, followed by shops in Waynesboro and Grovetown that year.

"The part I want to get to young soldiers at Fort Gordon is that we come from very humble beginnings," Mr. Tyson said. "Where we are is just from rolling up our sleeves. If we can do it, they can do it as well."

'A job I enjoy daily'

Jim Mousseau retired from the Army and left Fort Gordon as a sergeant first class. Now, to many of his students, he's simply "Mr. Moose."

Mr. Mousseau co-owns Gymnastics Gold, off Baston Road, a gymnastics and cheerleading school, where students range in age from 18 months to 30.

Mr. Mousseau joined the Navy in 1970 during the Vietnam War. After six years, he continued his military career by enlisting in the Army, which provided him with a paycheck and the opportunity to see the world, including most of Europe.

He spent a decade at Fort Gordon teaching electronics and managing electric maintenance contracts.

"That was when I found out I had an affection for teaching," Mr. Mousseau said.

After retiring, he coupled that affection with gymnastics experience he accrued as a teen growing up in southern California.

In 1991, he converted a bus into a traveling gymnastics school for young children called Mr. Moose's Mighty Mytes. In 1993, he created Gymnastics Gold, which now ushers nearly 700 children a week through its doors. "I've found a job I enjoy daily," he said.

Benefits include walking around in bare feet all day and helping teach children balance - both in the gym and in managing their time, he said.

Mr. Mousseau, Mr. Tyson and Mr. Joye all view their careers in the military positively and have used their benefits to further their second careers.

Although their military careers are over, they're never too far away for these retirees who made Augusta their home.